Stewart Priest

Twestival

// March 29th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Charity, General, Twitter, Web 2.0

Oh my… Twestival has been and gone again… this time around it was Twestival Global, and we were raising money for Concern Worldwide.

What’s Twestival? Well, straight from the Twestival site, its something like this:

On Thursday 25 March 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness. Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good. All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects.

In Glasgow, I was the lead organiser, for my sins. We had less time than usual to organise it – 4 weeks to be precise. In that time, we had to find a venue, a headline sponsor, some bands, a compere, a photographer and some raffle and auction items. Oh, and we had to get it all for free. I’m delighted to say that we did, in fact, manage it. We even had time to produce a video beforehand:

We set a target of £2500. I thought that was a VERY adventurous target, considering the timeframe. It turns out I was WAY off. At last count, we raised around £6500! To say I’m astounded is an absolutely understatement. It was such a huge achievement, and I know that Concern can do a whole load with that cash.

Our headline sponsor, iomart Group went nuts on Twestival this year. Not only were they sponsors of the Glasgow Twestival, they also sponsored the London Twestival, and provided a cocktail bar and smoothie bar in Glasgow and London respectively. That wasn’t all though. Phil from iomart attended both events. He kicked off in London, and made a 400 mile trip with a road cone – Glasgow’s unofficial mascot, picking up autographs along the way! Phil Collins did Live Aid, Phil Worms did Twestival. So what’s next? Some sleep. A lot of it:

A huge thanks to everyone who helped pull this event together and make it what it was. The next one will be in August/September, and I’ll be there. Will you?

Hello 2010

// January 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // General, Twitter, Web 2.0

Crikey, has it been three months since my last post? It’s been a very busy few months.. new job, new stage in my life, and new… well, I can’t think of a third ‘new’. (more…)

Democracy in Action

// July 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Charity, Twitter, Web 2.0

One of the great things about the web is that it empowers all sorts of people to go out and make a difference. Sometimes that difference isn’t world-changing, but it’s a difference all the same. We get the chance to air our views, and with the birth of the blog, we have a permanent platform for any issue we wish to shout about.

Today, I’m calling on the readers of my blog to help a charity which is very personal to me: No Strings Attached (Scotland). The reason I’m using my blog to promote this charity is because I’m trying to drum up enough votes to enable them to be appointed as the official charity of the Glasgow Twestival. What’s a Twestival? It’s a Twitter Festival. Basically, there will be an evening of music and fun at a venue in Glasgow city centre which will hopefully raise lots of money, and I’d love for No Strings Attached Scotland to be the recipient of the proceeds. It’s a very worth charity.

No Strings Attached (Scotland) aims to help children and young people with asthma better control their condition through playing wind instruments like the flute, clarinet, etc. It helps increase lung capacity and stamina, and I know from personal experience that it works. They also aim to educate children and young people about their condition, and steps they can take to help themselves.

Please vote for No Strings Attached (Scotland) here, and you can listen to my personal plea on the charity’s website here.

Finally!

// July 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // DIY, Web 2.0

Yes! I’ve finally managed to get a new pair of monitor speakers. The JBL Control 1s, to be precise.

It’s been a bit of a journey to get them, to be honest. I had to wait A-G-E-S to get served in the shop, so I whinged about it on Twitter, and immediately got a follow from Richer Sounds. They’ve offered me a tenner for my trouble, but I can’t imagine what else I’d buy out of there.. I’m poor AND I’m getting married!

Moving on from that, I decided to mount them on the wall yesterday, and the first speaker went up fine. The second speaker however, did not. It lasted all of two minutes before all 1.4kg of it started to come away from the wall. There was nothing else I could do but curse myself for making four bloody big holes in my nice, newly decorated wall.

Fast forward to today, and a chat with one of my colleagues, Brian. He’s an Active Directory wizard now, but he’s a joiner to trade. He suggested larger rawl plugs, so off I went to B&Q after work, and I bought the next two sizes of rawl plugs. I got home, tried them out, and BINGO! I now have a pair of speakers on the wall, not just one lonely speaker. I was on a roll, so I got my nice glass shelves from Ikea – which have been sitting in their boxes for weeks – and stuck them up on the wall. Now I think I’m a DIY god!

I’ve christened my speakers by playing The Jam Song, and I’m now load-testing the shelves! Woo!

Oh, and before I forget, check out ‘AutoTune The News’ on YouTube! It’s excellent!

AudioBoo, PhoneBoo and iPadio

// July 1st, 2009 // 2 Comments » // General, Web 2.0

OK, so I know I’m coming to the party a little late, but you’ve got to give me credit for showing up at all, right? No? Whatever.

Anyway, AudioBoo is the latest Web2.0 craze, and to be honest, its one I can totally get on board with. It is audio-based, after all. The only complaint I have had with AudioBoo in the past is that it’s an iPhone-only app, and it has been since launch. However, the nice guys at AudioBoo are planning to launch an API on 11 July to enable others to build cool stuff. Some of that cool stuff, I’m hoping, will be applications for the Symbian S60 OS. Creating apps based on this API will allow me to use AudioBoo properly, and in higher quality.

Now, I know that I said it was an iPhone-only app, and that’s true, but as part of the internal testing of the API, an AudioBoo developer created PhoneBoo – a version of AudioBoo which allows you to call a UK-based number and create your Boo that way. This is how I plan to use AudioBoo until the Symbian-based apps start appearing. Roll on 11 July!

Anyway, just for giggles, here’s my very first Boo:

UPDATE:

The iPadio folks have been Twittering me since I posted about AudioBoo, and have convinced me to give it a try. I’ve given it a go, and so far, it’s much the same as AudioBoo. However, they are working on an MP3 upload service which will post audio to Twitter in much the same way as TwitPic posts images. It just goes to show what a chance email can do, eh?

Unlike AudioBoo though, iPadio is creating apps for mobile handsets other than the iPhone. They have indicated to me that there will be something much better coming for Nokia handsets, but due to a Non-Disclosure Agreement with Nokia they couldn’t go into anything substantial with me at this time. I’ve asked to be a beta tester for the service, and they’ve agreed, so if I can talk about it, I’ll post it here.

Just for laughs, here’s my iPadio phlog: